Michigan

Jones saves Tigers' win; Dolsi the future closer?

AP PhotoDetroit's Magglio Ordonez watches his RBI double in the seventh inning against San Diego on Sunday. Ordonez also had a two-run home in the Tigers' win.

SAN DIEGO -- Todd Jones made an interesting comment about the future prior to Sunday's game. Detroit's 40-year-old closer with 315 career saves knows the end is near, and he's sizing up his successors.

"It'll be interesting competition between Freddy and Joel to see who wins that closer's job," Jones said.

Freddy Dolsi has the same potential to make an impact as Joel Zumaya. Just how did that happen so quickly with a player who came out of nowhere?

Dolsi, 25, skipped Triple-A Toledo and barely stopped at Double-A Erie, where he pitched four innings in four games. And yet, since being recalled May 4, has gone from being off the radar to the center of the storm.

Jones survived a liner off his knee and picked up his 14th save in as many opportunities in Sunday's 5-3 win over San Diego, which enabled Detroit to take its fourth straight series and its 12th win in its last 15 games.

TRACKING THE TIGERS

• Saturday's game: Magglio Ordonez drove in three runs with a homer and a double, and Justin Verlander got the 5-3 win over San Diego with help from four relievers.

Dolsi has pitched in five of those wins. He is regularly being called upon in the seventh and eighth innings to get the game to Jones, and he usually does.

Only 18 percent of the runners he's inherited have scored, and that is the best in the bullpen.

He's also gotten outs on 75 percent of first batters faced to lead the team. His ERA is 2.70 with two saves, with his 0-2 record as the lone blemish.

"It's very unlikely to be where he is from where he's come from," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "But we reward people who have done the job."

And that is why Dolsi, while never being a highly-rated prospect and signing at a relatively late age for a Dominican player at 20, is sticking with the Tigers. He's producing, plain and simple.

Leyland often prefaced compliments about Dolsi by saying he was not ready for this. And while Leyland says that's still true, there is no holding him back. Dolsi spots his mid-90s fastball, freezes hitters with his changeup and trots into games with all the confidence in the world.

"I don't think he understands fear," said Jon Matlack, Detroit's minor league pitching coordinator. "There is no fear in him. Freddy just goes to war. It's not something you can teach."

Matlack, who has been with the Tigers' organization for 13 years, said the only other pitcher without college experience to make the kind of jump Dolsi has made is Jeremy Bonderman.

He went from Class A in 2002 to Detroit's starting rotation in 2003, going 6-19 with a 5.56 ERA for a team that lost 119 games.

"This does not happen very often," Matlack said. "It's rare."

And so how did it happen?

"Let's face it, Freddy has to get a lot of credit," Matlack said. "We've helped him get there, but he's done it."

The first significant adjustment for Dolsi was going from starting for the Dominican Summer League Tigers in 2004 to relief with West Michigan in 2005.

"He fatigued real quick until we put him on these exercises to keep his arm strong," Matlack said. "We asked, 'How do we best use the arm Freddy possesses?' And the answer was in relief.

"It helped that Freddy had that take-no-prisoners attitude and does not hold back."

Everything came together for Dolsi in 2007, when former Tigers pitching standout Joe Coleman became the pitching coach for the Lakeland Tigers.

"Joe Coleman put him in the closer role," Matlack said, "and was the one who brought Freddy along."

Dolsi smiled at the mention of Coleman.

"He's like my father," Dolsi said. "He helped me with everything and got me to the Major Leagues. He told me, 'You throw hard. You can do it.' He showed me how to throw the changeup and worked on my mechanics. He said being a closer is all about concentration and throwing strikes, and that is what I try to do."

Matlack said his live arm, demeanor and ability to also throw his slider and curve for strikes got him invited to spring training with the Tigers. Matlack said not making the team out of the gate caused him some anxiety, and he was sent from Erie to Lakeland to work with Coleman and get back on track.

The first batter Dolsi faced in the majors, Manny Ramirez, hit a homer into the shrubs at Comerica Park. But he settled down in that game, and it remains the only homer he's given up in 20 innings.

"He's earned four checks like he's never seen before," Leyland said, referring to the paychecks players get every other week, "and he's going to get a chance to earn many more."